Book Review: Broken Shield

Title: Broken Shield
Author: J.D. Rhoades
Genre: Mystery and Suspense, Thriller

What it’s About: After a twister passes through the area, Chief Deputy Tim Buckthorn of Pine Lake is called about a potential kidnapping victim. The girl, whose picture fell out of the sky and landed on the doorstep of a well-respected lady of Pine Lake, is buried alive below the house in which she was held. Due to the national, cross border nature of the crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigations gets involved, bringing to town Tony Wolf, alongside with his eager, brilliant, and new side-kick, Leila Dushane. Tony Wolf is not received well in the small town of Pine Lake, as a few years earlier he had come to the town in hiding, bringing with him trouble. As the three of them search for the abducted child, Leila and Tim begin a relationship. Once they find the girl, they give chase to her abductors, one of whom ends up dead. Unfortunately for Tim, Leila, and Tony, the dead abductor was none other than the grandson of Monroe, a crime boss specializing in prostitution. Monroe, who is ailing and on his deathbed, has never been caught for the crimes that he committed. He is determined to get revenge for his grandson’s death, and hits Tim in the place where it hurts him the hardest: his sister.

After a lovely family dinner, Tim leaves his sister behind at the diner while he and Leila go to find the hitman who carries out Monroe’s orders. In the meantime, Tim’s sister is the victim of an explosion, which was placed into her car by the hitman. As a result, Tim, a sworn officer of the law, leaves behind his badge and goes to avenge his sister’s death as well as to protect the town he loves, by crossing every line he shouldn’t have.

My Verdict: I snagged this book in a free promotion via Amazon Kindle last year, and this year I made the decision that I would actually read it. It’s entertaining, to say the least, and even though it is part of a series, it reads very well as a stand-alone book. I didn’t feel that I was missing anything by not having read the first book in the series.

I found it easy to follow along, with mediocre writing style. The characters, while believable, don’t seem to have the complexity of a human being, but rather of a two dimensional box. I’m not sure if the author was trying to make the characters into some emotionally damaged individuals, but either way the characters weren’t well developed, and there didn’t seem to be much backstory for them. Perhaps the backstory for Tony Wolf and Tim Buckthorn were given in the first book, but that still left Leila Dushane to be fleshed out and given her story. Instead, we hear bits and pieces of their stories through dialogue.

There’s nothing in the book that sticks out to me as worthwhile to remember, as it is straightforward and generic. I really is the type of books where cop finds out about crime –>goes on searching for the victim–>gets caught up in bad stuff–>someone close to him gets killed–>cop goes out for revenge, and there’s nothing else.

Ultimately, for a free book, it was an entertaining read; however, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else to read unless mediocre cop-gone-rogue books are your thing. If it isn’t, there are other books out there that are better worth your time.